Blah Weekend

After the scorpion thing on Friday, we went to dinner with Glade's sister and her husband. We don't see them a lot so it was nice to get to spend some time with them. We went to Olive Garden and while waiting, bumped into a couple from Glade's youth. They were alone so they joined our table for the evening. We were seated around 7 and left when the restaurant closed at 11. People are always curious why we just go to dinner on our dates. We like to talk! It was great to hear about their family and discuss life with people who are different and not really a part of your own. Got home much later than I wanted. Going on very little sleep these days. I'm not so good at that.

Saturday morning, we slept in - like 7ish. Glade wanted to run a long distance so he decided to run to our old house so we could get the yard done. I stayed and waited for the bug guy to get here. While we were waiting, we cleaned like crazy trying to make sure all baseboards were visible. The kids rooms looked amazing. He finally came and starting spraying. Bo kept asking who he was and why he was here. The kids would say "he's the bug guy". Bo was sitting in the living room a little while later and says in a very exasperated tone "I can't believe I'm not the bug guy!" See, my mom dubbed him the bug man, because while she was here, he always wanted to pick up the dead bugs. (not with his hands, obviously) If there was a dead bug somewhere, he would raise his hands and yell "the bug man is in the house!" Now he was so disappointed that there was another bug guy. I assured him he was still OUR bug guy. Funny kid.

After he sprayed, the boys and I left to go meet Glade and do yard work. The people were still moving out so we weren't able to do any. We went to Glade's work so he could get some stuff done. I went to the bank and got a few things we were out of. (still sticking to my budget) I had worn running clothes with full intent of going to the gym, but couldn't get myself there. Came home, had a much needed nap and then up getting ready for our dinner date. My friend from California was back in town and wanted to get together. I still think it's weird he likes us, but whatever. This time he was bringing a girl. We went to Waldo's as we always do and it was very enjoyable. His new friend was super nice and very pleasant. Got ice cream on the way home and then went straight to bed. Chelsey had been at graduation all day and then to a few parties that evening. I was worried about her safety, driving around on this night isn't all that safe. Too many drunk drivers. She was also farther away than she usually goes so I expected her to be home late, not having much idea of driving times. Nope, she came in at 11:30. I love that girl!

Today has been a really good Sunday so far. Church was really good, enjoyed all three meetings without much distraction. No Sunday dinner tonight, so it's a PJ's day from here on out. Sometimes I really like that. Now, if I get a good nap, all will be perfect! I shouldn't say that out loud. I think I gained 2 lbs in the last few days. Hopefully I will be caught up on sleep and out of my slump so I can get back at it this week.

Freakin Scorpions

I'm really being pushed to my limit only there is no real recourse for me here. Today we had just layed down for naps and I was sort of wrestling with Katy trying to get her to lay still. Bo fell asleep right away and I was frustrated with Katy for being so squirmy. I had just put her in the bear hold and told her to lay still when Bo sat up and screamed. I couldn't imagine why he was screaming, I had a firm hold on Katy so I know she didn't kick him or anything. I sat up and said "what happened?" That's when I saw that freakin little scorpion crawling on the pillow that Bo had been laying on. Poor thing sleeping away and BAM! I grabbed both kids and got them to the end of the bed and squished the little sucker. Bo cried for about 5 min. We washed it and Julia came to our rescue AGAIN because I had thrown the other stuff away not knowing what it was. I'm just so mad and can't do anything about it. I stripped my bed, washed everything and now I have to try to relax tonight. Needless to say there were no naps today. Lovely. He has been fine ever since so I'm starting to wonder if maybe it only pinched him, not stung him. Whatever happened, I'm so glad he is fine and it wasn't any worse. I was worried since it was right on his ear. Something better change soon!

Library Day

Yesterday the kids wanted to go to the library so we went. Before we left, I sat them all down and explained appropriate behavior to them. I told them of all the fun things I would like to do with them if only they weren't rotten when we went places. While at the library they were mostly good and everyone found two books. It's kind of hard to look at so many books and just choose one. I hate picking a book at random. How do you know if it's going to be any good? Then again, if you only re-read books, you never find anything new. We made it through and I left not feeling frustrated... Yeah! They had decided today would be their lunch day as well.

We headed to Chick Fil A, where I convinced them to all get kids meals. If you turn in the toy/book, you can get ice cream instead. This made it cheaper and they got ice cream. On the way there, I remembered that my back tire was really low and there happened to be a Discount Tire a few buildings away. I decided to drop the van off and we would walk over for lunch. The kids couldn't believe I was going to make them walk. It was maybe a quarter mile. I love that that isn't even a thought to me anymore. We had lunch, they were still good, we waited the hour and headed back to pick up the van. When I got there, they informed me that the tread was too low so they couldn't fix it. They just put my spare on and sent me on my way. Very frustrating. The ride home was silent as everyone dove into their new books...beautiful. The rest of the day went fine, much better than the last few.

I had Bunko so I needed to make a dish to share. I was planning on taking Tuna Casserole which is what I made for my family. Late in the afternoon I got a call to take dinner to a family so I used the extra casserole for that. Now what to take to Bunko?? I had already decided to not take the gift I had gotten because if I lost it, it would ruin my night. OK, I'm a little hormonal and maybe just a bit crazy, but so be it. I decided to stop at Subway and take subs to Bunko, while there I decided to pick up a gift card as my gift. A much better scenario! It turns out 2 other girls had similar ideas and brought subs as well. Woops. I got to pick 3rd for prizes and I still came home with my gift card. Why am I so weird? At least I was happy! I ate way to much and felt horrible driving home. Brownies are such a weakness. Luckily I had done 6 miles on the treadmill that morning to try and make up for the crap I was going to eat! That leads me to my final query of the day...

How is it that someone can smoke a cigarette and then go work out at the gym? Isn't that a complete contradiction?? Beyond me......

Lastly....yesterday was my Gramma B's birthday. She is 81!! I love her dearly and miss her like crazy. She has the most beautiful eyes in the world and is as kooky as a hoot owl ( I mean that in a good way). She is everything one could imagine good about a grandma!! Happy Birthday!

One more day...

So we are down one more day of summer. I know the first week and the last week are always the hardest. The first week, everyone is coming down from being busy and active all day and trying to figure out what to do with themselves. The last week, they can't wait to get back to that and are completely done being home all the time. We are almost through with the first week and hopefully, it will improve from here. The kids are still wandering around aimlessly trying to occupy themselves. For some reason, the only thing they can find to do is play on the computer. We have a 30 minute limit for each child and they are not allowed to get on before 9 am. This encourages them to sleep in, eat breakfast and brush their teeth (another requirement for having a turn). Once they have had their turn, they begin the begging to earn more time. This isn't so bad, I get a lot of work out of them, but it gets really annoying. Today, when I got back from grocery shopping, they had washed my van (in the garage), made my bed and cleaned the bathroom. Stephen and Nick cleaned the loft better than I have seen it in a long time and Rhett cleaned the downstairs bathroom. Yesterday he even loaded and unloaded the dishes. I have even gotten my back scratched and hair brushed for computer time. It definitely has it's perks!

I decided to make Wednesdays my shopping day so I could have a little alone time in the middle of the week. I have decided to make a very strict budget and try to stick to it. I'm not very good at that and spend way more money than I should. Making a menu and shopping for it actually makes it easier to spend less at the store. We have set a $50 per week budget for entertainment. This will be good for the kids because they get to decide how and when we will spend it. Of course, Stephen asked if we could have "roll over". Sheesh, too much TV. Anyway, it will be interesting to see them make decisions as a group.

For dinner, we had Poor Boys. I'm not sure where we got the name, but that's what we called them when I was young. It's just french bread made into a sandwich. Then you toast it. Very simple and plain, but I loved it growing up and my kids did too! Fajitas and Poor Boys, we are on a roll. Once dinner was done, we still had 4 hours of the day left....oh brother. Luckily the kids seem to settle down and are more content after dinner. No nap today so I am ready for bed! Most of the laundry is done AND put away, my room is mostly clean and the rest of the house is do-able. Tomorrow I will hit the gym and try for 6 miles, it's Bunko night so I'm going to have to make up for a lot of calories!

First Real Day of Summer

Today was the first real day of summer break. It's also our weekly movie day. The kids actually slept in which was blissful, but it also made us rush a little to get there in time. Today's movie was Space Chimps. We got there just in time to get popcorn and sit down when the movie started. On the way in, I noticed that Rhett was in filthy jeans and a disgustingly dirty shirt. I was so mad! I didn't realize I needed to check over my 11 year old. In my frustration, I let him know of my unhappiness and told him I wish I could make him sit in the car. He said "ok, I'll go sit in the car." So, of course, I can't let him actually do that so I told him "if I wouldn't get arrested, I would love that!" Very mature, I know. The movie was ok, but Katy does not sit well and is a royal pain. We have to do this every week, hopefully she will get the hang of it.

After the movie, I needed to go to the bank and pick up 3 things at Wal Mart. I told the kids "just walk beside me!" What a wreck. Katy started out by throwing a fit over not wanting to be in the cart or hold my hand. The whole screaming, falling on the floor thing. Here I was with 7 kids and one of them tantruming for everyone to see. In my determination to not be a Wal Mart mom, I decided to stick her in a little corner till she would hold my hand. It didn't take long, she stopped crying and walked by me just fine. I don't know why she must make me do stuff like that! Then there was the other female with me. She was the worst. I finally grabbed her tightly by the back of the neck and made her walk right beside me. Is walking really that tough? The boys were mostly really good and I was super happy to be out of there!

We got home, had lunch and cleaned up a little before my Visiting Teachers came. As always, very enjoyable. I tried to lay down a little before I had to get kids to scouts. Tonight was pack meeting and I did not prepare very in advance. Lots of things in my head, not so much past that. Pack meeting turned out pretty well despite the lack of leaders and scouts. Summer is rough and right now, everyone is exhausted from end of the school stuff. It really was fine and now there are no scouts for all of June.

I really miss the Biggest Loser. I got nothing! This is a rough week on my weight as well. Too much activity which means eating like crap on the run. Not to mention, I'm a stress eater and a little PMSy. Not a good combination. Add, a holiday and Bunko into all that and I'm sure it will not be a good week on the scale! Luckily I know that tomorrow is another day, or in this case, another week. I just need to keep it in small chunks and not let it become the norm. To the gym in the morning!

Memorial Day

Monday holidays seem to stress me out. Our business barely takes off for holidays like Christmas, much less a day like Memorial Day. So while most families are swimming and BBQing, we usually do not. If we do, it's without Glade. I feel like we have to do something. So, in a determination to not have it be a normal day, I planned a big BBQ for my family. I was hoping the pool was open so we could go swimming and it was. Yeah!! We went to the pool in the afternoon and saw a couple of families who were in the same situation we were. I invited them to bring their BBQ to our house and we would do it all together. Actually, one family had just had a baby and were without mom, so they needed a good meal! Even my mom showed up.

The kids had a great time and there was way too much food. Of course, I ate way too much because there was so much to have...grrr. I made a jello cake and it turned out awful. You can't rush jello! I made it too late and didn't give it time to set. So basically it was just soggy cake. Kids didn't seem to mind! While eating dinner, we remembered it was Monday night so the girls retired to my room to watch the Bachelorette. Good times!

It turned out to be a really nice day even if not totally traditional. We are blessed to have great friends and family! Not to mention, a country to live and be safe in.

whitley's photo shoot

So I would love it if photography was a natural gift of mine, but it's not. I would like to be better at it, so I decided I would practice on my children. I really should read that thousand page "how to" book that came with my camera, but that would take a long time! Anyway, today was Whitley. She was willing to get herself dolled up and let me take some shots of her. I think we took just over a hundred actually. We did it right in the middle of the day when the lighting is the worst, but we tried. These are my favorites.

This is actually before we started. Chelsey was tickling Whitley. They were cute together.

Of course, Katy wanted in on the action. She had just finished lunch and had ketchup all over her face. Nice!

Bo too, nice ketchup face and no pants on. Hey, we like to be comfortable!

This was probably my favorite, she is so gorgeous!

I told her this should be the cover art for her debut country cd! Watch out Taylor Swift...

Ok, so those are my first attempts. I'm sure you will be seeing the rest of my brood all here in due time. If you have any subjects you would like me to practice on....I will!

Blessings of Patience

I guess I was blessed for not actually harming anyone these last few days. Last night for our "date night", I went to the mall looking for some shorts. Haven't had much luck finding any that fit my size, price or style. I scored at Old Navy. I had to fudge on my price a little, but not much. I was also excited cuz I bought a size smaller than all the other pants I have. Nice!! After checking every store I thought possible and even some I didn't, I came home with only the one pair, but I was happy. Glade and I met for dinner, then I went and got groceries and he went to the book store. Romantic, eh? I had to pick Whitley up from a party and when I walked in, they apologized to me for traumatizing my daughter. I guess they watched Disney's Watcher in the Woods. She was in tears several times. They get it from me. I don't do scary!!

This morning we got up early to prepare for Stephen's birthday party. Yes, it was his birthday over a month ago, but we are just now getting around to the party part. He invited 3 friends to go watch Night at the Museum 2. They came for doughnuts and fruit, then we went to the movie. I let any of the rest of my kids, who had money, come with too. All came but Brooklyn. She is so broke. I told her that is the consequence for doing so poorly in school this year. Everyone else had earned money for their grades. I ended up taking 10 kids to the movies. They all behaved really well and the movie wasn't half bad either. After the movie, I talked them into stopping at Old Navy with me. We went for the $1 flip flops, but they were sold out. We ended up getting our 4th of July shirts while we were there. 10 kids in Old Navy and it went fabulously!! Came home, had a little nap, got around and headed to Costco. On the way home, we decided to go borrow a Brian Regan DVD from some friends.

I told the kids if they were showered with Sunday clothes ready, we would have dinner and watch it. I decided to make something I never made before. Don't laugh, you know we don't vary from the usuals very often. I had found this chunk of Pepper Jack Cheese at Costco and I was excited to use it. I love Pepper Jack. I made chicken fajitas, spices and all! I didn't make a whole lot cuz I knew they were all gonna cry cuz it was spicy and different. Nope, they loved it and wanted more. Go figure. We cleaned up and watched the DVD. It's not his funniest stuff, but funny nonetheless. Now they are headed to bed and ready for Sunday. A great day all the way around.

Crazy Glade got up really early and rode 112 miles on his bike with Jake. We'll see if he can walk tomorrow. I was bloghopping, something I never do, and came across a woman's blog who made me cry. No, it wasn't the NieNie one. This girl was hilarious. I could here my own voice telling the story of her dumb horrible day. All the things she talked about had happened to me one time or another. Her reaction to them was exactly as I would have reacted. I'm sure a tear fell down my cheek from the laughter. I love to find that other people live just like I do. My insanity is just plain normal!

Who stopped the clock??

The last 24 hours has seemed like eternity! Just as a reminder, I didn't sleep much the night before, so I was really tired yesterday. Some just don't understand that SOME people need sleep! I picked up the kids from their last day of school and headed to McDonalds. Way crowded so we decided to go to a park. Not thinking....I still got McDonalds food...ewww! Anyway, the weather was gorgeous and the kids enjoyed hanging out at the park so whatever. I ate too much...fries at McDonalds are my favorite and I ate too many of them. I have tried to not eat fries at all, anywhere. I have, but rarely. Today I paid for it. I felt sick the entire rest of the day. I assumed everyone felt like I did so I decided to skip dinner. I guess they were fine and by 6:30 they were all wondering why we hadn't eaten yet. Guess it's FFY today! I didn't get much of a nap because now everyone is home from school and all their friends think they need to call each other. By about 7:30 I was a zombie and just wanted to go to bed. Finally about 10 I did go to bed and for some reason had a hard time falling asleep. I'm pretty sure it was 11 when I finally did.

As I was drifting off, I felt a tickle on my arm. It was the tickle you can't mistake for anything else. Something was crawling on me. I swatted it, jumped out of bed like lightening and flipped on the light. There in my bed was a roach. *moment of silence for swallowing hard* I tried to go back to sleep, but even getting in the bed was a true mind over matter for me. I layed there till 2am telling myself it was no big deal, but I just wanted to disinfect everything. Then, of course, my kids were up bright and early at 6 am as usual. I was able to stay in bed till about 8, but only with several children in and out of my room.

I finally got up and around and went for a bike ride. I rode for almost an hour, 13.5 miles. The thing about biking is that it doesn't really feel like a work out. My legs get a little tired, but I'm never out of breath and I don't really feel like I sweat. I do, it just doesn't feel like it with the wind blowing on me. I think I could go for a really long time if only my BUTT didn't hurt so bad. Glade says that goes away, but holy cow.

The kids have been bugging me all day for extra computer time. It made me so irritated, I said there was no more computer today. Instead, I put them to work out in the yard. Why not?? It dawned on me. I've been racking my brain with ways to keep them entertained. How about a few projects get done? Nothing says they have to have some fun filled, party hardy everyday summer vacation. They have a lot of hours to fill every day. We are going to work a little this summer. It went really well today. They worked outside, I made them pizza for lunch and then every one was ready for some R&R, aka quiet time. Yesterday I sat down and did a menu for 5 weeks with not one repeat on it. Today I made out a detailed grocery list so I won't be going all the time and now I just need a projects list. Next week the summer movies start and the week after that, the pool's summer hours take effect. I think we might just be all right!!

Loving the Weather

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful! I love the rain, the clouds, the wind....heaven!! I decided to go to the outdoor mall since it's probably the last day with weather that would allow outside activity. It really was nice to be outside, but it drizzled the whole time. Not good for my hair. It was still nice to be out of the house and spend time with mom. I was hoping to find some super bargains, but not so much. Just a couple of $8 jeans for my girls. We had lunch and then it was time for mom to get back to work and us to head home for naps. As we were walking to the car, Bo was complaining that his tummy hurt. I assured him it was because he drank so much soda. We got in the car and he burped and said his tummy felt better. We weren't even out of the mall parking lot when he started moaning and holding his tummy. I knew what was coming. I dumped the jeans out on to the floor and shoved the empty bag on to his lap just as he puked. I didn't catch all of it, but most. When he was done, he looked at the bag, grabbed the edge and dumped it all onto his lap and the seat of the van. What?!?!? I was trying not to yell at him, but everything he did, just spread the throw up. We pulled over and I used diapers to clean up what I could. We stripped him down, rebuckled him and headed home.

Once home, he headed for the shower (2nd one today). He was so excited because this was the first time he had showered ALL by himself. So proud. We took naps and he was fine thereafter. As soon as I picked the kids up, I headed out to get my nails done. Nothing better than fresh nails. Had an hour before I needed to leave for the temple so I got Nick signed up for homeschool. Yikes! I'm doing it, just doing it.

Went to the temple with the Moorely's and met Glade. We did sealings and it was great because I was able to do both sets of Great Grandparents. After the temple, we went to Nielson's for ice cream and didn't leave there until 11:20 or so. Crazy. We didn't get home till about 12:30 am. Not good on a school day! This girl needs more sleep than that. It was also not good that I came home to a trashed house. My kids know better than that. I wasn't so happy. This morning I made them get up and get it done.

Today is the last day of school. I had to make a quick trip to the gym so I could get home to watch my friend's boys. It was not a great day on the treadmill. I felt like the gym was so hot and then I was tired and had a headache, which I never get. My allergies are kicking my butt so my nose is just dripping constantly. Very disgusting. But, I got it done and got home in time. It's about time to go pick up the kids for the LAST time this school year. I'm taking them to McDonald's for lunch, then heading home to catch up on my sleep! Let the good times begin!!

A better day

Today started not so good by first, hearing Katy scream as she pulled her tall dresser over on top of her. No one saw it, so I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it only fell on her legs. She has a nice bruise across the top of her thighs. She was kinda grouchy for a while after that. Imagine that! My kids are making me crazy and I found myself having a little anxiety while driving them to school. Where do their brains go??

After I dropped them off, I headed to the gym. Even after I checked the little ones into the kids club, I was dreading running. For some reason, I just did not want to do it. I kept thinking "what else can I do?" Nothing else really appeals to me or burns the calories like running does. Maybe I would just walk. Walking actually burns the same amount of calories, just takes longer. I got on and started walking. After a minute and a half, I started running and ran the whole 3 miles. Not bad for a day of really not wanting to run! I think my brain is finally starting to catch up with my body. When thinking I should quit and walk for awhile, I analyze myself. Legs, fine...breathing, fine...why quit? So I didn't. After doing the 5K, I rode the bike for 20 minutes. That was a little challenging because my butt is still sore from riding on Saturday and my legs were tired from running. At about 10 minutes I thought maybe I would be done, but decided to go on to 15. When I hit 15 I told myself not to be such a baby and made it to 20. So for really not wanting to be there, I did pretty well! I'm totally sore from doing weights yesterday. I guess that's a good thing.

Crazy Tuesday wasn't too bad and I finally drove the car since the scorpion incident. We never found it, but I figured I can't never drive it again. Let me tell you, my eyes were pealed the whole time! I just want to know if it's dead or not. Very creepy. I'm going to get it washed tomorrow and make sure they vacuum it really well. Then I guess we just hope for the best. Tomorrow is my last day of freedom. I hope I'm up for summer. I think my biggest regret about summer is that I lose my babies. They turn into mini big kids. They steal their innocence and teach them things that aren't exactly cute for a toddler. Right now, I can undo anything they do in the few hours they are around. Once summer hits, it's all day, every day. I will say I am putting my foot down with Spongebob this summer. It's Elmo and Dora for us!

Today, I fear....

Maybe tomorrow will be another emotion, but today I'm totally afraid of summer! In the morning, I'm so excited to not have to get up early and in the afternoon I'm so excited to not go wait in pick up lines, but let me tell you....the way my kids have behaved toward each other lately makes me very fearful for the next 10 weeks. They are sassy and rude and impatient and unforgiving. I'm constantly amazed over the things they argue about and the quick and sharp responses they have about something so trivial. Am I going to spend the next 10 weeks listening to this??? The answer to that is a definite NO!

For family home evening, we made summer plans. Just the usual day to day stuff with some ideas for outings. I was very clear with them about my feelings on how they have been acting. There will be some red cheeks and a very clean house if they don't get it under control. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised and they will get control of their mouths. One can only hope.

Today has been a day. Not bad, just.....I don't even know a good word. As Whitley got out of the car this morning, there was a scorpion on the seat of the car that she was sitting in. It quickly ran between the seats and we have not been able to find it since. How am I ever supposed to drive that again, or put my babies back there? We haven't had AC in our living area since last Thursday. It hasn't been bad, but every day it just gets warmer. Today the guy came to fix it and as he was getting it out of his truck, he dropped it and broke it. Now he has to pay for a new one. I feel awful, but what am I supposed to do?

I spent the morning cleaning which I actually like, but I'm so paranoid of scorpions now that I watch every step I take and everything I pick up like a hawk. Not that fun. The babies were restless and Bo kept wanting to know when we were going to go somewhere. I stayed strong and we stayed home! I worked my arms today and then I couldn't even cut the apple with my apple slicer because my arms were like jelly. That's a good thing. After school, I took the boys to get flip flops and some odds and ends we needed then came home and made tacos for dinner. FHE was a little out of control and I was glad to have it over.

As I have been writing this I noticed the water on in my bathroom. Katy had her head under the water trying to wash her cheek. She had used my eyeliner and then put soap on it trying to get it off. The only way she could rinse it was to put her whole head in the water. She is a handful! Tonight the Bachelorette starts which is nice since Loser just ended. I don't really watch any other TV, but it's nice to have at least one thing to look forward too!

Brian Regan Show

In February, Glade bought us tickets to Brian Regan. It was my "birthday present". We all love Brian, he is clean and funny and not at all objectionable. My kids quote him all the time! If you have never heard his stuff, look him up on YouTube. Quite funny. You can click HERE for a sample.

We left around 5 pm to head out for dinner before the show. We went with Jake and Jenny and met Joe and Kathy, Donna and Brandon, George and Rachel and Baily at Uno's. It was actually pretty good other than having a cazillion calories. Will I ever eat without hesitation again?? The waitress messed up our bills, so we got to the show about 15 minutes late. When we got there, his brother, Dennis, was performing. He may have been even funnier than Brian. We were in row 21 so we were pretty up close. I don't enjoy his crazy Jim Carrey faces, but I still cried laughing most of the entire show. Half the fun is repeating stuff later or as situations arise that remind you of his bits. It really was a very fun night and well worth the wait!

Donna and Brandon

Me, Glade, Jake and Jenny

Joe and Kathy

Jake and Jenny

and of course BRIAN REGAN!

The Cruise 2009

Our spur of the moment cruise was fantastic! The drive was long, but once we got there it was well worth it. The first night is pretty uneventful. You get there in time to unpack, settle in and go to dinner. The first show was not that great and I'm pretty sure I slept through part of it. The second day we slept until 9 or so then headed out for Catalina Island. We wanted to "do" more than we have in the past, so we rented mountain bikes and rode around the island. We did do one little running jaunt, but it was only about a mile, so not much to speak of. We didn't eat any crap while we were there and still had a grand time. Between the sweat and the humidity, my hair was a total fuzzball so I bought a ball cap. It was worth every penny!


Glade had an ice cream cone with every meal and sometimes in between. This was at breakfast.

If you look close, it says "Whittley Ave."

This was after we rode out to the far beach. We were trying out the timer setting on the camera so we could both be in the pictures. This was before I bought the hat!

We took this up by the Wrigley Mansion. This is the first spring training field for the Chicago Cubs. I'm pretty sure our little league fields are bigger than this. Amazing. I'm just going to mention that safety comes before fashion. Helmet....not my best look!

This is me thinking I might die. We were trying to stay on the medium trails around the island. I thought they were plenty challenging. On a "navigational error", we ended up on the hardest route and ended up on top of the mountain. I had to stop about every 50 feet and take a break. I think it took us about half an hour to get up and about a minute and a half to get back down. We tried to take a picture to show how high up we rode.

We started down where all those people are, right next to the water. We were high!

This was formal night in the Mikado lounge waiting for the show to start. We had already seen both the "dancing' shows on our last cruise, but one night they had Bobby Borgia doing magic and it was awesome! We found out that we had open dining, which means you can go eat whenever you want. We determined which shows we went to by how tired we were that day and how early we planned on turning in.

For all but one of the days, we were in a heavy cloud of vapor. Nothing but wet air. Seriously bad on the hair! I sported the cap again even though it did NOT go well with my outfit..lol! We tried out the mini put and of course, I won. That morning, we went to the gym for awhile, then played Battle of the Sexes, watched the hairy chest competition, played some Euchre and chilled in the room for awhile. The whole day has scheduled activities, so you choose which ones you want to participate in.

I'm pretty sure this was the same day. I think I wore two outfits a day, not including work out clothes. Why? Because I could! I forgot, Glade did a free throw contest. He didn't win, but he did pretty well.

This is part of the reason I gained 2.5 pounds. It's a swan made from cream puff dough and ice cream. Cute! I also ate chocolate melting cake for dessert every night but one. I had a big piece of regular cake that night! Chocolate melting cake is a little cupcake like dish with chocolate cake half cooked served with ice cream on the side. Very yummy!

Every cruise, they have a walk for Breast Cancer. The minimum donation is $10 per person. You get a wrist band and a t-shirt and then everyone meets up on the track and walks a mile. We decide to get our work out in early, before the event started. We went 4 miles that morning. It was a lot of sporadic running and walking because the track is small and people started showing up. While waiting to get off the ship, a little elderly woman saw me and says "Oh! Hi!" and waves at me. I said hello and then my face must have said "Do I know you?" because she then said "you were running....up there!" I just smiled and said "yeah".

The second day, we did more chilling. We did the walk, did line dancing, watched ice sculpting, played Name that Tune and did a scavenger hunt. The line dancing is fun, one of the ship's dancers teaches it. We met some older couples who danced behind us and then hung out with them during Name that Tune as well. There were several members of the Church on the cruise. We didn't win the scavenger hunt either. They gave you a list and 20 minutes to find it all. People were very helpful and were mostly happy to "loan" you what you needed. The girl I got the pink flip flop from was not that gracious. She let me have it, but not so happily. The kicker was that you got one point for every bikini top you collected. You could NOT take one from someone wearing it. I left all my bikinis at home (cough cough) so we were fresh out of luck with that one. The girl whose tattoo we were using took the picture of us holding all the stuff. Glade put lipstick on for another point, what a team player!

This is what you do when you are just hanging out by the pool, yes, in long pants. Most days I was freezing, but on this one, the sun came out...go figure. I was taking pictures of whatever. These are my toes.

We asked a gentleman to take a picture of us, so he went a long ways away and took one sort of of us. We could tell the focus was really high. I cropped this so we were actually the picture. After he took it, he asked if I wanted him to go way up on the balcony and take one looking down. That was the only time I worried about my camera!

Us NOT winning a 24k solid plastic, ship on a stick. Our scavenger hunt goodies. I asked one of the waitresses for an empty, used, plastic "carnival" cup. She looked confused and asked "Are you lost?" I gave up on that one, but she came through for us a few minutes later.

Yeeeehawww! Line dancing to Shania.

This isn't the only dancing we did. We decided to experience the night life on the boat. We were usually too tired to stay up that late, but decided to the last night. We went to the "R&B club room and it was empty. That was actually good for us, cuz we got our groove on without any pointing and laughing. Eventually some other goofy youngsters who couldn't dance came and joined us. It was fun to let loose and dance like we did oh-so-many years ago....even if we didn't look the same! We were still in bed by 11:30.

We had different dinner guests every night and that was interesting. Most were very nice, we even sat with a gentleman from Chandler. Twice we ran into different people from Chandler. One guy used to be from Mesa and now lives in Utah. There truly are people of all kinds in this world and you can experience them all on a cruise! We had a very relaxing few days and I would highly recommend it!

A super special thanks to all those who helped with my babies and carpooling. Thanks Jenny, Shelli, Julia and Denise! Of course, my mom deserves more credit than I could even begin to give. What would I do without her???? (probably not go on vacations!) Love you mom!

Spirit and Scorpions

Yesterday was a doozy for Whitley. She woke up, put her pants on and something poked her. She rubbed it and then felt another poke. She says to Chelsey "what keeps poking me?" After 5 pokes, she is able to get her pants off and find the little intruder. A scorpion. They managed to kill it, but not before she battled it out with him. She went ahead and went to school even though it stung. By the end of her first class, she was starting to feel tingly in her arms and legs and face. She went to the nurse who called mom and told her she would need a trip to the ER. Another nurse came on and said, that "no" this was normal and she could even stay at school. Whitley was far too upset and freaked out to stay, so she went home. She said it didn't hurt anymore, but that all the tingling and numbing felt creepy and was scary. She cried for quite a while. I was communicating via cell phone while I was waiting to get off the ship. I told her to call Julia for some paste and Stacy for some advice. She did and they both came through. I think it was a little late for the paste at that point because the stinging had already stopped, but I guess Julia came in record time and we truly appreciate that! Stacy came over, checked her out and called poison control. They said that with the number of times she was stung, it could last for 24 hours, but she should be fine. Whitley was afraid to be alone while mom went to work so Stacy took her home with her and took care of her. Again, we were all grateful for that. I drove home without any worries.

That night she had a choir concert at which she had a solo. We weren't sure how well that was going to work since her cheeks and tongue were tingly. She did great! Chelsey did her hair for her since she couldn't grip the straightener. She was a trooper. The best part is that the choir she was in all voted on a couple of awards and they chose Whitley to receive the spirit award. Yeah for Whitley! Now both girls have a choir award. Silly me didn't bring my camera to take pictures so we have none.

The concert was way too long and unfortunately for me, I hate choir music, so it was a really long hour and a half. I'm sure for what it was, they were terrific, just not my thing. I certainly don't get mother of the year award for enthusiasm in attending concerts. Both girls were beautiful and did great.

Chelsey's Prom #2 2009

Today was Prom #2. Chelsey went with Brayden Kanole. They spent the day playing at the park and then her and her friend, Brooklyn, came back here to get ready. They headed to Julia's to get hair done, then rushed home and got dressed. I think Chelsey forgot about her makeup (She rarely wears any), but she was still gorgeous. The boys showed up right on time and were great sports about my picture taking. I remembered the boutonniere as I was driving home from the gym at 5, I was feeling really lucky my mind went there. Turns out everyone else forgot theirs, so her date is the only one that has one. From now on I will encourage her to for-go that tradition. What a waste. Anyway, they were all cute and fun and I'm sure it will be a really wonderful evening.

Chelsey, Braydon, Brooklyn and Keith

Katy's first Pigtails

This is my first attempt at pigtails with Katy. She really doesn't have enough hair yet, but we made it work. Adorable!

These are her dimples!

The Storm before the Calm

I know it really goes the other way, but that's not what I'm experiencing. The five days on my cruise better go as slow as these last few have! Today started out so great. A trip to the temple with no obstacles. In and out of the doctors before my scheduled time. A nice visit with mom for awhile. A descent nap. Sounds great so far!

The boys were supposed to leave for Fathers/Sons campout. They thought they would leave around 2, but stuff happened and Glade didn't know when they were going to leave. I had plans with a friend and her girls for the evening. I had to trash those so I could drive the boys into Glade's work to save them an hour and a half. Wasn't real thrilled about that, but wanted my boys to get to camp so I did it anyway. Instead of going out, the other girls just came to our house and we had pizza. Chelsey and Whitley left to go see a movie so no time together there. The time at home was fine and probably good considering I was a little stressed and frustrated at this point. We took the girls to McDonalds for ice cream and to pick up my prescription. That's where the real fun begins.

I dropped off my RX at 5 pm. Came back at 8 to pick it up and they tell me they don't have it. Excuse me?? Yah, she says, we don't have any, sorry. No phone call or anything. She tells me they can get it by Monday. Monday?? Who has a prescription they can wait 4 days for? Not to mention that whole leaving out of town thing. She said she would call some other Walgreens to see if they had any. Nope, not a one. She was sooooo not any help. I was really not happy at this point. Do I need to go on about how they didn't even bother to call me at 5 when I maybe could have done something about it???? Now it's 8 and I have a van full of kids. I took it to CVS (where it's not covered by insurance) and they have it, but not the generic. $50 vs. free with ins. I'm desperate so, whatever. She tells me it will be 20 min. But....it's right there in your hand! Nope, gotta wait 20 minutes. I took everyone else home and got Brooklyn and Katy settled. I don't normally leave Brooklyn home alone or in charge of Katy, but I have and I decided to now. It's late, Katy was almost asleep in the van and I'm only going to be gone less than a half hour. I locked them in, told her not to answer the door or phone and left. When I got to CVS, she hadn't even started on mine yet...grrrr. But I got it and was headed home. Finally, stupid day over. I walked in the house to find Brooklyn asleep on the couch and Katy sitting next to her, wide awake, watching TV. Nice. I guess I didn't mention that she need to stay awake!

I guess the storm will make the calm nicer. If it was calm before the calm, the calm wouldn't feel so refreshing. One more day!

I'm going!!

It's official and booked! We leave on Sunday for a 5 day cruise to basically nowhere. Actually we go to Catalina Island and 2 days at sea. Who the heck cares where we go, we're on a ship!! When I booked it, the agent told me we were traveling for free. I'm not sure what she considers free, but she said the costs were all port fees and taxes, the actual cruise was free! That could make me feel better, but I still shelled out $292.20. That's not exactly free. It is, however, a great deal for two people on a 5 day cruise! I can't even tell you how excited I am!! Are all the exclamation marks getting my point across? Thanks to my very bestest mom for being willing to come stay with my kids and all my great friends who are taking my little ones and carpoolers who are taking extra trips and kids who help out so much when I'm gone and especially to my husband who goes along with all my wacky ideas...I love you all! Sounds like I just won a grammy, huh? I would say bon voyage, but I still have 2 days to go and lots to get ready. Till then..

Funny how things happen

Just now I was skimming my home page with the latest news and crap and saw an article about a woman who was recently arrested for putting her 10 and 12 year old girls out on the curb, three miles from home for arguing in the car! Freaky. Suppose it would make a difference that mine were 11 and 13 and boys???

Free is NOT always good

How many hours are there in a day? This morning I thought the clock had stopped. I even sunk to watching Twilight and hanging up laundry. I had my kitchen, floors, front living room and laundry (mostly) done by like 10 am. By afternoon, time was ticking a little faster, so by 5 I started dinner. I was so excited. Olive Garden has this chicken tortellini stuff that is so good. I bought stuffed tortellini at Costco and was cooking the chicken when I read that Joe's BBQ was giving away free meals today. We never take our kids out to eat so I thought maybe that would be fun. I hadn't started cooking the pasta yet so I figured I was ok to have it tomorrow. We loaded up and headed out for the 35 minute drive to the place. I had read that the wait was less than 20 minutes. Not too bad. When we finally got there, there were probably 500 people in line. It was crazy. My kids had no desire to stand in that line. Now we were clear across town, haven't eaten yet and anything else we decided to do wouldn't be FREE. I was so regretting this decision. We ended up at Taco Bell with all the kids pitching in to pay for it. I was perfectly happy to go home for tortellini, but they thought not.

The ride home was torturous. I almost yelled "shut up" and we do not use that word. The fighting about nothing and who had the last drink or the most drink or touching....I could not take anymore. After my initial outburst, they quieted a little. Katy cried pretty much the whole way. She didn't like the song on the radio or the drink handed to her, or where her buckle was placed on her carseat. GRRRRR! Finally when Stephen and Rhett were wrestling right behind me I was done. I wish I had gone with my second instinct (my first was to yell at them), I should have stopped the car and kicked their butts out. We were only 3 miles from home. They would have been fine.

I was so happy when a friend called and asked if I wanted to go running when I got home. My inner thighs and quads are so sore, but I thought anything to get me away from these little rugrats for a few moments would be good for me. She came and got me and we ran just over 2 miles. It sure felt like more. It still felt good to get out and move and sweat a little after a lazy day at home. I got home and most of my kids were in bed so ....ahhhh! A good night's sleep and tomorrow is another day.

In my email, I got a cruise offer for 4 days for $99. It's like in a week though. I think we are going to do it as my mother's day present. Haven't talked to my mom yet, but it would be so great! Anyone wanna come??

No pain, No gain....

So I keep telling myself. Yesterday I must have lost my brain for awhile. I started the day with 6.5 miles at the gym. I ran the first 3 without stopping, which I have done before, but not very often. Felt good. I was thinking back to when I ran the turkey trot and how I thought I might die. How, the rest of the day it was awkward to walk. It's not like that anymore. It's still a long run and I want to quit, but just not as hard and I'm fine after.

I didn't eat as well as I would have liked, so after crazy Tuesday was done, I went in to watch the Biggest Loser and decided to do weights and stuff while I watched. I went for an hour and a half straight. I kept thinking.."I can do more!" I did a lot of lifting, scrunching, squatting...it was fun. However...I couldn't sleep last night. My biceps stung and my butt was already feeling it. This is really not good because typically I can't tell if I'm sore till almost a full day later. I was already feeling it and it had only been hours. I'm dreading this evening.

Today is my rest day, so I just stayed home and cleaned. My house has had a really funky smell lately and I can't track it down. Drives me crazy. So I cleaned the kitchen, including mopping and completely cleaned my front living room. Now that all the yard sale stuff is gone, I can get it back to feeling like a room. I washed pillow covers, dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed all the armrests and febreeze-ed anything I could. I'm hoping the smell is just my dog and the fact that everything is closed up now that the air is on. You never know what could be hiding here or there though, creating a nasty smell. Now I just have to tackle the laundry. It's mostly clean, but still in baskets. I hate laundry. Only two weeks till schools out! I will be so happy, for awhile, to not have homework and schedules and papers to sign and end of the year programs. Hopefully we will camp a lot this summer. Between that, the summer movies and trips to the pool, it should go pretty smoothly. *crossing fingers*

Self!!

This is the word I have a love/hate relationship with. It's the word, other than "no", that my 2 year old shouts most throughtout the day. Today she wore undies the whole day, including going to the gym and napping. Completely dry. By midday, she was going about every 20 minutes or so, but wouldn't let me help her. Great! Until she pooped and filled the toilet with toilet paper so that a plunger became necessary. She didn't want me anywhere near her and I didn't know she was pooping, so...whatever. I have to be excited that she wants to go and didn't crap her pants and not even one demand for and M&M! Still, she needs help!!

Monday....

Sunday was a very weepy one. Sometimes testimony meeting is ho hum, but others, it's amazing! That would be yesterday. A special needs boy bore his testimony in such a mature and honest way, it would only be possible that he spoke directly through the spirit. Then a beautiful young woman, Whitley, was next and of course, she made me cry. It was just one after another. I got a short break in Sunday school, and then Stacy talking about all the family challenges she has had and the blessings of the temple got me again in Relief Society. Wow.

After church we mostly hung out, took naps and prepared for Sunday dinner. I love hanging out with family and it's always an enjoyable time. Next week is Mother's Day so ViEtta is making dinner for everyone. My kids love when we get to go the the Smith's for dinner. It's nice to go somewhere else every once in a while.

Today started way to lazy. I just couldn't get myself going. I decided to do laundry and hang out all morning, but then I remembered some errands that really needed to be done so I put the kids in the tub and got myself around. We had a nice morning out and got home just in time for naps, my favorite part of the day! I got up before the little ones so I could start reading my lesson for next week. I get to teach Relief Society. I'm a little nervous. That is not exactly my forte. After school I had to take the boys to get their eye exams so they could get new glasses. That went mostly well. We returned home just in time to start dinner. What?? Whitley had already made dinner. Now, Brooklyn had deceptively told her that I said she had to, but she still did it and it was really nice! We got cleaned up and gathered for FHE.

The theme for the evening was "become as a little child". We talked about what the scriptures mean by that and then spent the rest of the night playing games. You are never too old to laugh till you cry. We played a guessing game, spoons and then finished with a doughnut eating contest. I got powdered doughnuts for a treat. They had to eat three and whistle. We about lost Dalin, but we revived him and got him some milk and now he's just fine. (dramatization)

Katy has been in undies the better part of two days and is doing really well so far. Yesterday she even went to church and slept in them. Today not quite so good, but she wants to and that's half the battle.

I wanted to go to yoga tonight, but just am not feeling it. I had a busy day and ate too much crap. Tomorrow I will run and start anew. Good thing there always a tomorrow!

All Alone

About a year ago, I entered this spectacular world of blogging! Many of my friends did the same and it was so fun to keep up on each other and hear the tales of other mom's just like myself. Seems lately that I'm mostly alone in this virtual world nowadays. Where have you all gone?? Am I the only one with so little to do? I blog more now than ever because I have nothing to READ. It's lonely out here all alone...*sniff sniff*. Come back to me blogging friends....I need entertainment!

Free is Good

Friday I spent the morning with my mom getting stuff ready for the yard sale. If you have been to my house in the last 6 months you may have noticed the growing pile of stuff in the corner of my living room. Finally, we decided to just get it done. Stephen went and spent the night with my mom so he could get up early and help her get things moved out. Chelsey had her SATs today, so I had to bring her in in the morning for that. Whitley had a 4 am hike with the young women and Glade went for a 70 mile ride with Jake at that same time as well.

It's always a little panicky trying to get everything out and organized and have people showing up and hoping you have enough change and wondering if there will even be people. The morning started off pretty warm, but the breeze picked up and it was really nice. Mom had a bee hive in her front yard and the bees were a little annoying. Mom and I both got stung within a minute of each other. It was weird. They were fine all morning, came and attacked us, and then went away. Stephen sat out and sold donuts and soda. That was his money maker. I think he made like $28. Not too shabby! I ended up making about $150 and mom made right at $200. I was thrilled. I went there with a bunch of crap that was taking up space and came home with a nice wad of bills!

Once we decided to close up shop, we put everything in boxes at the end of the drive way, put everything we wanted in the garage and then put a "free" sign on the garage door. We left and went to Red Robin for lunch waiting to see what would happen. Glade met us for lunch as well. I like him. After lunch, we stopped at the children's used store and took in some of the stuff I didn't sell. When we got back to mom's house, it was all gone. A few boxes with some garbage and a few weird odds and ends was all that was left. Nice!! Works every time. People love free stuff. That is just a fact. They don't even care what it is, they just take it cuz it's free. We didn't have to haul anything off, we just threw away the remnants and called it good. Didn't get home till 3 pm and I was sunburned and tired! My poor kids had been home alone all day. My house was a wreck and I didn't even care. I laid down for a very short rest and decided to just get up and go to the gym. I had some Red Robin that needed to be dealt with..lol!

On the way to the gym I took Chelsey to the movies. She met some friends there. Saturday night at the gym was great! Practically empty. Some kind of testosterone took over my body or something cuz I just wanted to grunt and sweat and make growly faces. I ran 3 miles, then biked for 12 min, then rowed for 10 minutes, then did weights for 15 min. That may not sound like that much, but it was an hour straight of high intensity stuff. It felt great! I just kept thinking "what's next?" What's probably next, is that I won't be able to walk tomorrow! When I got out to my car, there was a piece of paper on my steering wheel. Kind of creepy. (I never lock my car) Someone opened my door and put something in it. I looked around cautiously and took it out. Upon examining it, I recognized the handwriting and was touched by the "I love you sweetheart" written upon it. Glade had run to Home Depot while I was at the gym, they are right next door, and stopped to put the note in my car. Too sweet.

On the way home I had to pick up eggs for tomorrow. I called home and bribed my kids to get things straightened up really fast and I would bring them home ice cream sandwiches. Worked like a charm! Got home, showered, picked up Chelsey and returned to a very clean house and children. All ready for Sunday! Not a typical Saturday for me, but it was a good one!

Oh yeah, Whitley babysat for Julia tonight. While she was picking her up, I was chatting with her and she mentioned that she was going to Gecko Grill for dinner. They have our favorite dish. She brought me home one so I can eat it tomorrow!! I'm so excited....Thanks Julia!